Some Utah Republican lawmakers are so upset over criticism of GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump by Democratic Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill they are calling for his resignation. They are even making noise about using a newly passed law to oust him from his job.
“Truly, a dead body is more competent than Trump to be president,” Gill posted to X on Saturday. “It would do exponentially less harm to our democratic republic and honor our ideals more.”
Given the proximity to the attempted assassination of Trump at a campaign rally just a week before, Gill’s comment drew a loud backlash from Trump’s supporters.
Gov. Spencer Cox — who endorsed Trump a day earlier after saying publicly he would not vote for the former president — tore into Gill on social media. “A new low for Sim following a literal assassination attempt. Disgusting,” Cox wrote.
“I could have chosen a different word. I can see why people would be offended,” Gill said during an interview with The Salt Lake Tribune. “I regret that I offended some people and they took away something I was not implying. That was not my intent.”
Gill added, “My sentiment is that anybody, even an inanimate object, would do less harm to the country.”
Utah Republican lawmakers pounced, calling for retaliation.
House Speaker Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, whose district is in Davis and Weber Counties, used social media to call for the Salt Lake County elected official to resign.
“This type of hatred is absolutely inappropriate, especially coming from a DA. These types of comments only divide our state and our country even further,” Schultz posted.
Schultz added, “Utahns deserve better – [Sim Gill] needs to resign.”
Gill said Schultz has not attempted to contact him since calling for his resignation. Schultz did not respond to requests for comment from The Tribune.
When outgoing Utah State Board of Education member Natalie Cline came under fire for inciting an online mob by falsely insinuating a female high-school athlete was transgender, Schultz met privately with Cline before suggesting publicly she resign.
In his post, Schultz also attacked Gill for not aggressively prosecuting crime. It appears that wasn’t by accident.
During the 2024 general session, lawmakers passed SB273, establishing strict legislative oversight for the Salt Lake County district attorney — the only Utah county with a population over 1,000,000. The law does not apply to the district attorney in any other Utah county.
The new law requires the district attorney to track how much time they spend on criminal cases and report back to lawmakers. It also contains a provision allowing the governor to recommend to the Utah Supreme Court that they appoint a replacement prosecutor if he determines Gill is not doing his job adequately.
Other lawmakers are calling for that part of the law to be used.
Rep. Kera Birkeland, R-Morgan, whose district is outside of Salt Lake County, responded to Gill’s post by saying it was time for the governor to ask for a replacement.
“It’s time to move forward with HB273. We have a sufficient amount of victims, all ready to testify about [Gill’s] lack of prosecuting violent criminals,” Birkeland wrote. “This recent post truly exposes his character.”
She then quoted the section of the law that gave the governor the power to act.
Rep. Trevor Lee, R-Layton, who also does not represent voters in Salt Lake County, threatened Gill’s job.
“Hope you like the job while you have it. You will lose it next session,” Lee wrote. “Maybe you should worry about ur (sic) district and prosecuting criminals while you still can.”
“I don’t think we have reduced ourselves down to this level of pettiness,” Gill said. “This is not America for the half of the population that has power. This is also an America for those who don’t have power.”
“If we have to self-censor and apologize for believing in our ideals, then it betrays the oath we’ve taken to defend what this country stands for. It cannot be an echo chamber of one voice.”